Hiding in Plain Sight: 'Associated Entities' and Australian Democracy. Associated Entities (AEs) are organisations that are formally linked to political parties. This project aims to examine how AEs interact with Australian democracy by investigating their impact on elections, the law, and party system dynamics. This project expects to generate new knowledge about the impact of these nearly 200 key political actors, with a particular focus on how they are able to elude significant scrutiny of th ....Hiding in Plain Sight: 'Associated Entities' and Australian Democracy. Associated Entities (AEs) are organisations that are formally linked to political parties. This project aims to examine how AEs interact with Australian democracy by investigating their impact on elections, the law, and party system dynamics. This project expects to generate new knowledge about the impact of these nearly 200 key political actors, with a particular focus on how they are able to elude significant scrutiny of their activities. Expected outcomes include a new typology of AEs, a new financial index to measure their impact, and proposals to improve their regulation. The key benefits generated include: a strengthened campaign finance regime, and enhanced transparency and integrity to Australia's democracy.Read moreRead less
Is Compulsory Voting Defensible? If it can be demonstrated that, under the right conditions, compulsory voting is an acceptable solution to the escalating problem of declining turnout in industrialised, voluntary-voting systems, then the Australian regime will provide the ideal starting point from which to produce guidelines for the successful adoption and management of compulsory voting. Since Australia has, arguably, the best managed and tolerated compulsory voting regime in the world, the pro ....Is Compulsory Voting Defensible? If it can be demonstrated that, under the right conditions, compulsory voting is an acceptable solution to the escalating problem of declining turnout in industrialised, voluntary-voting systems, then the Australian regime will provide the ideal starting point from which to produce guidelines for the successful adoption and management of compulsory voting. Since Australia has, arguably, the best managed and tolerated compulsory voting regime in the world, the project has potentially enormous national significance in terms of publicising, promoting and exporting our electoral expertise. The project will also position Australian scholarship at the forefront of rapidly expanding global interest in the practice.Read moreRead less
Civilisationist Mobilisation, Digital Technologies and Social Cohesion. Civilisational populist rulers polarise societies mainly along religious lines. They also interfere with their emigrants, mobilising supporters against other expatriates. This project aims to advance knowledge of authoritarian states' transnational influence on social cohesion and inter-group conflict. By studying Islamist and Hindutva civilisationist mobilisations, their reach into their emigrants via digital technologies, ....Civilisationist Mobilisation, Digital Technologies and Social Cohesion. Civilisational populist rulers polarise societies mainly along religious lines. They also interfere with their emigrants, mobilising supporters against other expatriates. This project aims to advance knowledge of authoritarian states' transnational influence on social cohesion and inter-group conflict. By studying Islamist and Hindutva civilisationist mobilisations, their reach into their emigrants via digital technologies, and their impact on Turkish and Indian groups in Australia, the project aims to assist policy makers and community groups by generating conceptual frameworks, benchmarking data, and recommendations for making policies to deal with this phenomenon's negative effects and for developing intervention strategiesRead moreRead less
An Intellectual History of Political Corruption. The project will bring expert historical and conceptual knowledge to bear on the shortcomings of current policy debates, thereby suggesting new possibilities for re-defining and clarifying the problem of corruption and the meaning of good governance.
Regulatory Federalism and Public Policy: The Transformation of Australian Intergovernmental Relations. Intergovernmental relations impinge upon most aspects of Australia's public sector, from public finance to policy development, from economic investment to public service delivery. They shape the capacity of government to produce good policies and services- from childcare to aged care, from schools to power stations, from business regulation to environmental management, from workplace safety to ....Regulatory Federalism and Public Policy: The Transformation of Australian Intergovernmental Relations. Intergovernmental relations impinge upon most aspects of Australia's public sector, from public finance to policy development, from economic investment to public service delivery. They shape the capacity of government to produce good policies and services- from childcare to aged care, from schools to power stations, from business regulation to environmental management, from workplace safety to highway maintenance. A better understanding of the changing federal system is essential for improving the benefits - better policies, more efficient programs and more responsive decisions - that Australians expect from their governments.Read moreRead less
Political Risk, Institutions and Regulatory Regimes: Business, Foreign Investment and Public Administration in Asia. Rating accurately the risk environment of emerging economies has always been problematic. Insufficiently developed methodological tools and the lack of institutional and regulatory data make the process imprecise. This project overcomes this problem, developing a new industry based risk assessment system for understanding political risk to commercial activities and foreign investo ....Political Risk, Institutions and Regulatory Regimes: Business, Foreign Investment and Public Administration in Asia. Rating accurately the risk environment of emerging economies has always been problematic. Insufficiently developed methodological tools and the lack of institutional and regulatory data make the process imprecise. This project overcomes this problem, developing a new industry based risk assessment system for understanding political risk to commercial activities and foreign investors in nine of Asia's most rapidly developing economies. The study, one of the first to correlate institutional and regulatory forms to the incidence, severity and recurrence of risk, will deepen our knowledge of political and regulatory institutions in Asia and provide investors with the ability to navigate those environments successfully. Read moreRead less
The science of welfare: Adam Smith's political thought. Understanding Adam Smith's political thought helps us to understand how liberal subjects live and are governed today. Little has been written about Smith's political thought, therefore this project offers the first complete account of his politics and his unique science- and welfare-based approach to statecraft.
Temporary Migration To and From Australia: Changing Patterns, Causes and Implications. As is the case in other traditional migration countries, Australian international migration is undergoing a paradigmatic shift whereby temporary migrations are assuming unprecedented scale and diversity. However the bulk of immigration research in Australia remains locked in to an earlier paradigm in which permanent settlement was dominant. This study analyses the nature of the temporary flows and the forces ....Temporary Migration To and From Australia: Changing Patterns, Causes and Implications. As is the case in other traditional migration countries, Australian international migration is undergoing a paradigmatic shift whereby temporary migrations are assuming unprecedented scale and diversity. However the bulk of immigration research in Australia remains locked in to an earlier paradigm in which permanent settlement was dominant. This study analyses the nature of the temporary flows and the forces driving them with a view to developing more contemporarily relevant theory to explain them. It assesses the demographic, social and economic impacts of temporary migration and draws out the policy implications in the Australian context.Read moreRead less
Circular Migration in Asia, the Pacific and Australia: Empirical, Theoretical and Policy Dimensions. Few issues have been more significant in contemporary Australia than international migration. It is of fundamental importance to Australia's future as it faces the global economic downturn, ageing, climate change and an ever-changing relationship with its Asia-Pacific neighbours. In the past Australia's migration relationship with its region has been almost totally seen as a source of skilled s ....Circular Migration in Asia, the Pacific and Australia: Empirical, Theoretical and Policy Dimensions. Few issues have been more significant in contemporary Australia than international migration. It is of fundamental importance to Australia's future as it faces the global economic downturn, ageing, climate change and an ever-changing relationship with its Asia-Pacific neighbours. In the past Australia's migration relationship with its region has been almost totally seen as a source of skilled settlers. However this relationship is increasingly a more complex one. Migration will continue to be fundamental to the nation's economy, society and security and this study seeks to provide an evidence base for better policy and practice in immigration and development.Read moreRead less
Linkages Between Temporary and Permanent Migration in Australia. Australia's economy and society has benefited from immigration more than any OECD country during the postwar era. Moreover it will continue to be of great significance to national prosperity, productivity and sustainability. However paradigmatic changes are occurring in global international migration systems and if Australia is to continue to maximise benefits from immigration it must continually modify its policies to accommodat ....Linkages Between Temporary and Permanent Migration in Australia. Australia's economy and society has benefited from immigration more than any OECD country during the postwar era. Moreover it will continue to be of great significance to national prosperity, productivity and sustainability. However paradigmatic changes are occurring in global international migration systems and if Australia is to continue to maximise benefits from immigration it must continually modify its policies to accommodate those changes. The present project seeks to contribute to this effort by providing a better understanding of the contemporary migration system. Such understanding is a necessary pre-requisite for the timely formulation of effective immigration and settlement policies and programs.Read moreRead less